By Nathalie Voit In an effort to compete with Tesla, General Motors (GM) has spent billions to electrify its vehicles. The automaker, which announced in January its plans to become carbon neutral by 2040, revealed on Oct. 6 its intention to become a leader in the electric vehicle market. “We are all in on electrification [...]
The toy industry is grappling with massive shipping delays as labor and transportation constraints have squeezed the supply of toys on retail shelves. Events like the blockage of the Suez Canal in March, coupled with the ongoing congestion in U.S. ports, have slowed delivery and increased costs for many toy manufacturers. Rising staffing costs, [...]
By Nathalie Voit As part of its ongoing commitment towards expanding privacy protections for users, Apple is implementing a new "user account delete function" to make it easier for users to erase an account within an app. The company is mandating iOS developers add the new feature to all appropriate apps by the end of [...]
By Nathalie Voit Private-sector hiring picked up in September in what turned out to be a better showing than many economists expected. According to payroll giant ADP's National Employment Report, private payrolls in September rose by 568,000 from August. The hiring was led by large companies, which added 390,000 jobs, including 36,000 in businesses with 50-999 [...]
By Nathalie Voit Global supply-chain bottlenecks are forcing some builders to turn to substitutes for materials in scarce supply. Shortages of core materials from wood panels to insulation boards have left many construction companies torn between putting a project on indefinite hold or paying higher costs for alternative suppliers, the Wall Street Journal reported. Fueled by [...]
By Nathalie Voit In a bid to make up for lost profitability, appliance makers are prioritizing higher-end models at the expense of lower-priced, low-margin ones. The industry-wide decision to shift resources towards the production and distribution of upscale products is a direct response to the global supply-chain crisis that has inflated labor, shipping, and manufacturing [...]
By Nathalie Voit The personal information of over 1.5 billion Facebook users is being sold online on a popular website for hackers in what is reportedly the largest and most significant data breach to date for the social media platform. However, the validity of the data dump is still in question, as experts suspect the [...]
By Nathalie Voit The Senate confirmed Rohit Chopra as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Sep. 30 in what amounted to a close 50-48 vote. The move was met with resistance from Republicans, who opposed the nomination unanimously. Kamala Harris cast the deciding vote. President Joe Biden's CFPB pick is [...]
By Nathalie Voit Flood insurance rates are going up. Starting Oct. 1, coastal communities around the country will face updated flood insurance prices that take into account what FEMA officials say are the “real” costs of subsidizing some waterfront properties. The new pricing methodology, known as Risk Rating 2.0, will price policyholders based on their unique risks. [...]
By Nathalie Voit The manufacturer of Purell is betting pandemic-era hand sanitizing habits are here to stay. Gojo Industries Inc., the family-owned company that produces Purell hand sanitizer, added both a factory and a warehouse to its inventory this year, in addition to restructuring its supply chain to double its production. Gojo believes [...]
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